


Priorities

by Guardy



Series: The Thing About The Hat [1]
Category: Emergency! (TV 1972)
Genre: Gen, accidentally-on-purpose eavesdropping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:19:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29238204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guardy/pseuds/Guardy
Summary: Mike Stoker is the very picture of a calm, level-headed engineer, and Roy has never heard the man raise his voice before... but apparently, Cap trying his best to kill his own career because he's terrified of a newly-transferred Battalion Chief will do the trick.
Relationships: Mike Stoker & Hank Stanley
Series: The Thing About The Hat [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2146968
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Priorities

**Author's Note:**

> Another tumblr prompt fill - this one was "Mike Stoker" and "A Flash Of Anger", which meant that I spent a really long time scratching my head, because HOW do I EVEN. 
> 
> This is what I settled on; I figured if I can't see Mike lose his cool on the job and in actually harrowing situations, him trying to save the perfect, lovable disaster that is his captain from himself would probably do the trick. 
> 
> I also accidentally turned "Mike tries to sort out the McConnike situation" into a little triptych of loosely related stories; one more prompt fill, and one free-form. They'll go up at some point over the next couple of weeks, I'd say.
> 
> Original post plus Extra Authentic 70's Typewriter Version over on my E! blog: https://johnnys-green-pen.tumblr.com/post/642221982742609920/and-a-second-for-the-character-and-letter-mike

Life at Station 51 taught one to expect the unexpected, if not for Chet’s constant pranks, then thanks to Johnny’s uncanny ability to make any day far more interesting than it really had to be. Safe to say, there wasn’t much that really, genuinely surprised Roy after all those years. He especially hadn’t expected Mike and Cap to be the thing that did it on this particular day, before the shift had even officially started. And yet…

“ _Hank Stanley, what did you do???_ ” a voice suddenly howled through the otherwise quiet station, loud enough to echo, and despite Roy’s claims of being totally unsurprisable, _that_ did the trick, especially after Roy finally recognized the voice - to his utter bafflement, it was Mike Stoker’s.

Roy had never - not once in his years at 51’s - heard Mike raise his voice. The engineer was completely unflappable, and even when something really got to him, he was the type for murderous glances and quiet seething - unhinged shouting really wasn’t his style. Roy wasn’t trying to snoop, honestly, but still found himself edging closer to Cap’s office, and couldn’t avoid hearing some of what was being said. Well, _all_ of it, really, but it was hardly his fault if he’d left something out in the engine bay… 

“Mike, you don’t _understand_ ,” Roy heard Cap say, his voice striking an odd balance of intense and utterly morose, “the man is going to _ruin_ me. Have my head on a silver platter.”

“Not if I get to you first,” Mike barked. “Putting in for a transfer to god-knows-where because you don’t like a battalion chief that hasn’t even started working yet? Giving up on everything we’ve built here? That- are you _completely_ out of your _mind_?”

“It’s damage control, Mike,” Cap said. “Once McConnike gets his hands on me, I’ll _never_ make battalion chief - heck, I’ll be lucky if I don’t end up getting _fired._ ”

“What on earth would he fire you for?” Mike asked incredulously, his normally endless patience clearly running dangerously thin.

“I don’t-” Captain Stanley paused and took a shaky breath, at which point Roy realized that he was basically directly in front of his office now, but in his mixture of morbid curiosity and honest concern, he found that he really didn’t care. “I don’t _know_ , Mike, but he’ll find _something_ , believe me.”

Mike huffed. “And that’s why you’ll just drop everything and leave? Look, Station 51 in general and this shift in particular is one of the best teams out there, _and_ we have the quite probably best paramedics in the business right now. I’m sure the guys upstairs know that, and I’m almost certain they wouldn’t simply let McConnike have his merry way with your assignment.”

“You’re just saying that to cheer me up,” Cap sighed, and it sounded heart-wrenchingly pitiful. 

Mike didn’t seem impressed, though - his voice was firm and allowed no argument as he replied: “Hank, have you ever heard me say something I haven’t meant?”

Silence.

Roy could hear footsteps in the office, and almost bailed - but after nothing happened, he realized that it must’ve been the captain pacing. Mike didn’t say a thing, seemingly content to wait the man out and let him think.

“You really think I should stay?” Cap asked. He sounded genuinely surprised by it.

“Obviously,” was Mike’s familiarly bone-dry reply. 

“Despite the risk?”

“Yes. I may be biased because I really do not want another captain if I can help it, but I also definitely think the risk is worth it. It’s a damned good thing we’ve got going here, Hank, with a lot of great men working in an amazing team. And you, Hank, you’re part of that. We could make do without you, sure, we wouldn’t fall apart with a new captain, but I’ve _seen_ these people work with different captains and I’m absolutely certain the spark would be gone if you left.”

Roy thought of Johnny, eternally distrustful of anyone outranking him, who had nonetheless - however hesitantly - found something of a father figure in the man, and silently agreed. He’d probably clam up again the second a new captain set foot into the station. Chet, too, in his own way. They’d live, sure, but not like they’d used to. That wasn’t really something he’d consciously thought of recently, and in retrospect, Roy wouldn’t have minded keeping it that way. 

“And you really mean that?” Cap asked Mike yet again, before answering his own question: “Of course you do.”

There was a short silence, only broken by the sound of further footsteps. Paper being picked up. Another pause. 

“There,” Cap said, punctuated by the sound of tearing paper, “I give up.” Another tearing noise. The quiet flutter of scraps into a waste basket. “You’ve got me. I’m staying. You happy now?”

“Yes, actually,” Mike replied - and unexpected admission from the stoic engineer. “And if I’m wrong, if that Chief of yours really does try something, he’ll have to get past me first - and I’m sure every other guy on the shift would say the exact same thing.”

“Good, good,” Cap said, sounding relieved. He took a shaky breath.

“You know,” he said, “I still can’t believe you actually shouted at me.”

“Some things are worth shouting about,” was Mike’s simple, gruff reply. “And now let’s get out of here and get some actual work done, I’ve had enough of your office for the day.”

“You ‘n me both,” Roy heard Cap mutter, and then had to dodge into the break room as fast as he could to avoid being caught totally-not-snooping. 

By the time captain and engineer walked into the break room, the way Mike stuck just a bit closer to Cap than usual was the only remaining evidence that this morning had been anything else than perfectly ordinary, and Roy was about to very subtly needle Mike about losing his temper, before realizing that he couldn’t, that nobody could ever know - but then again, he figured it’d been worth it.


End file.
